This does not make any sense. I do not see any good "real" road cycling route. Columns Drive is 1st. And they picked the Cobb county section of silver comet, which in my opinion is not as good as Paulding or Polk section of the comet.

I've put quite a bit of work into post processing of the Strava API data.
The real eye opener for me, was that most Strava users AREN'T hardcore athletes and could probably care less about taking a KOM or Top 10 on a segment.

In fact, (much less) <10% ride at the levels of our training rides.

Hence, it is likely from a Strava statistical view, some place like Columns Dr ranks high in their search. But something like a Sky Loop, which most cyclists view as difficult, is down in the noise level.

Occasionally I'll drive by the running track at the Mud Creek Soccer Plex and be amazed by the large number of people out there. Also, the perceived security of where people exercise appears to be having effects on what, where, when people exercise. Most people feel that road cycling isn't safe, IMO.

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TimH

Post subject:Posted: Jul 14, 2017 - 02:31 PM

Ultra Distance

Joined: Feb 11, 2007
Posts: 1014
Location: Off the back.

crispx wrote:

Hence, it is likely from a Strava statistical view, some place like Columns Dr ranks high in their search. But something like a Sky Loop, which most cyclists view as difficult, is down in the noise level.

This does not make any sense. I do not see any good "real" road cycling route. Columns Drive is 1st. And they picked the Cobb county section of silver comet, which in my opinion is not as good as Paulding or Polk section of the comet.

Their stats are likely based on groups of 'triggered' segments.
In the case of DLV, that is neither trail or road, but it is a segment that get's triggered many-many times.

I was puzzled a bit looking at their Comet routes as the turn-arounds, for a couple of the routes, weren't common end-points that I see people riding. Like Coppermine Rd or just west of the Metromont plant. My impression is that most people work on destinations as end-points or turn-arounds, like the Caboose, the tunnel or some trailhead such as Florence is popular. One of the routes showed clearly the new Powder Springs trailhead was the turn-around. In the case of Coppermine Rd, I know people that do the road loop from Wyandotte to Coppermine as a turn-around, but I can't recall having seen riders taking those options.

Also, drilling down, the route data they show is very coarse and often way off the route. Which makes me question the source of their route data. If you look at their heatmaps, the 'route' falls on know paths or roads. To me, it looks as if these routes were compiled from 'phone' GPS segments which tend to wander, when compared to track data from a dedicated GPS device like a Garmin, which in general show better accuracy.

If you compare segment 'attempts' (Strava's term) at Silver Comet Trail Mile0 vs Coots Lake to the tunnel the ratio is ~5:1, so much aligned with TimH's comment, simple regional demographics are driving the data, not the quality of the route. If the data filtered out 'phone' data or avg speed the results could be vastly different.

To call these routes 'currated', to me, is a glaring misuse of the term.

To call these routes 'currated', to me, is a glaring misuse of the term.

That is exactly my point.

Tim is also right in regards that it just considers metro Atlanta.

FYI - I am not debating if there are more cyclists in Atlanta vs Hiram it is obvious that Atlanta has more. Sky loop is not even that prominent in the heat map unless you zoom it (as compared to for instance the pizza ride route).

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